Stelmaria
Summary Stelmaria is a Razorclaw Shifter, whose race is said to be agile, and subtle, with a high degree of perception to aid them in their hunts. She is slightly taller in stature, but tends to posture herself in a manner which hides her height. Her plentiful hair hides her more lycanthropic ears. She is also trained as a Monk. History Stelmaria grew up with a tribe of Shifters including her mother, father, an uncle, and another family which had two sibling children. These siblings were very close, often ignoring Stelmaria during the day, and seemed only to warm to Stelmaria when sharing food & stealing sips of ale over their nightly fires. Growing up around the outskirts of towns, she had few interactions with non-shifters, but enjoyed observing them from afar. Upon reaching her teenage years, Stelmaria fell ill and her tribe made the decision to save itself by abandoning her in the middle of the night. Waking to find herself alone, she fell into a state of mania leading her to violent outbursts towards any creatures she encountered when she was not in hiding. After one encounter left her close to death, she vowed to control her emotions and anger so as not to find herself in an early grave. Deciding to continue travelling as her tribe had done in the past, she came across a monastery which appeared abandoned, but upon further inspection was housing an elderly fellow of declining health. She was hesitant to interact, but he sensed within her the need to find control, and called her over to him. He explained that his fellow Monks had left him behind when they found out that he was afflicted, and perhaps she too was suffering from the same abandonment. After suppressing the flare of emotions caused by having to face the truth of her filial rejection, she allowed herself to let this man train her in their monk traditions. They spent a fair amount of time working towards inner peace, but did not open up to each other about their own lives beyond the training sessions. He was feeble and could barely manage to fend for himself, so Stelmaria would hunt to provide for both of them in an attempt to ward off further degradation of their condition. One particular night, he had taken a turn for the worse and she began to hunt alone along the border of Frostmoor hoping to find anything that might help to ease his pain. She was found by the City Watch, who quickly had her surrounded. Noting her declining health they brought her into the afflicted area, and Warden Lovelace kept watch over her movements. Upon recognising her exemplary tracking skills, he asked to employ her as a consultant for the City Watch. She felt slight remorse for being unable to return to the monastery, but knew that her teacher’s worsening condition was one she could not mend on her own. She vowed to continue practicing and gaining control over her ki, while trying to learn more in regards to curing the affliction. Within the town, she continued her childhood habits of observing from afar, making few - if any - acquaintances. Warden Lovelace often approached her with missions, making him the only person she would interact with directly most of the time. This relationship had been all she needed at first; however, over the years, she found she missed the feeling of having her tribe with her, even though she had not had any close friends then or now. Present Day Presently, Stelmaria is travelling with a new tribe of people. She hesitates to get too close, finding that all her companions seem to have mysterious hidden self-serving motives, and she is more interested in the truth, the preservation of self, preservation of the world, and balance of energies. The Latest Blunder After discussing the potential need for a back up plan should our meeting go awry, Stelmaria agreed it would be best to solidify a course of action, which Lovelace assured her we had, and she trusted Lovelace as she grew up with his loyalty and morals guiding her. Amelie never struck her as someone to be trusted, since her emotions reminded Stelmaria of that lack of control she once felt after her family abandoned her, but she assumed Lovelace would be there to offer a wise tone of patience. Clearly patience was not in play, and once she saw Zheldara disappear, along with much of the structure around them, Stelmaria's only thoughts were disbelief and a need to bring everyone back to safety. Thinking Lovelace too could not have possibly imagined this was the route Amelie was choosing, she has been sticking by him to try to lead him foremost to safety. She wants to find peaceful ground again to regroup, though she does not trust anyone any longer, and fears that Amelie & Aeryn's raw emotions will bring about a destruction through inciting chaos. After she studied so hard to lose that raw nerve within herself, she finds it shameful that these two are self centered enough to bring the world down with them over their personal sentiments. Though not wanting to align herself with any of the group, she is interested to hear what Val'e has to say because she has grown to respect his approach of tending to the sick, speaking in a straightforward manner, and ultimately how he has seemed to keep his emotions on a mostly steady level, even when clearly perturbed. She respects the discipline she sees in him, though she is wary of all she has seen which clearly shows he is more involved in this matter in ways by which Stelmaria is perplexed. She hopes to speak with Val'e and work with him to heal the group once they/if they find themselves out of immediate danger. She is unsure whether this will be possible with Sacrosangre now seemingly their companion & perhaps protector at the current moment. Her bewilderment at the course of action which Amelie has taken will be one she keeps to herself once the group has a chance to talk, as she tends to withdraw from the petty bickering of the group amongst itself. She is worried, however; she will have to soon choose between Lovelace with his ceaseless loyalty to Amelie's sophomoric emotions, and whom she believes to be the colleagues who truly have a goal of restoring the world to a balance, with self-respect & awareness of matters far greater than their own personal vendettas. That being said, she has little faith that anyone is acting without some mysterious and dangerous ulterior motive, so it's anyone's game. P.S. Is this her Daiga? She just doesn't know.